Redtail Rise LX

maybe @Carrion? <3

snow came.

it fell in soft puffs and mountain boulder paused in his patrol to glance off in the direction of bloodwood, where he and new snow had made a den for the months to come.

the snow was here. the massive wolf began to frisk about, running along the edge of the rise in a flat gallop that worked his muscles into a pleasant burn.

ily! <33333333333

This was Carrion’s first snow.

She danced into the flurries, leaping up and snapping at the frozen flakes with eager teeth and tongue. She would have continued on as such if she had not noticed the rise’s galloping lead hunter. The mahogany wisp raced to greet him, her fur fluffed out around her in a dandelion pouf.

She danced around his long, long legs, nipping at his nape in a rare spirit of playfulness.

ilytt!! <3

occasionally names for the young did not immediately present themselves.

such was the case of the one he once called earth paw, who now hung somewhere between.

he returned her little nips carefully, growling a challenge as he broke into a faster run.

run with me

today he felt she might gain a name and share in this exhilaration with him.

Before all the turmoil, before the stormbreak of a sudden familial death, Carrion would race alongside the huntlead and feel alive in herself — knowing where she belonged and who she belonged with.

But these feelings only ever lasted for moments at a time.

Her mind changed constantly; her moods as fickle as the wind itself. Today, she knew without question that her heart sang to be with Tall Hill — Mountain Boulder to some, Augur still to others — yet that did not mean her heart would sing for him tomorrow.

Carrion took eagerly to her passions when they came.

She raced alongside Tall Hill without thought, and though her pace had to be doubled to keep up with the huntlead's long stride, she found elation in the churn and effort. Soon, she was overtaking him in a race across the open snowplain, her mud-dark fur rippling and her figure flying as swiftly as a bird.

they raced, the huntlead opening his stride as the child of red woman kept up her speed.

for a moment he glanced along himself; he saw her youthful vigor in the rolling graceful bounds, and she became ermine. it was a different name, but a good one.

mountain boulder pressed them into a higher gait, seeking to take back his position at their helm, his heavier body beginning to flag somewhat.

Though she would never know this, the title of Ermine was lovingly bestowed to her.

It was a thankless grace, like tucking in a long asleep child, but it was as welcome as if he had placed upon her shoulders the warmest stole for the coldest ventures. She ran on, oblivious to all except the clear language of Tall Hill's body.

He overtook her to run in his rightful place — the stallion ahead of the herd, the mightiest stag amongst powerful peers — and she was glad to lollop alongside him, giddy as a foal. She looked up towards his long, strong jawline.

Then suddenly, for the first time, she thought of him as something other.

ermine glanced at him. mountain boulder bathed her in the sunshine of his eyes.

and then he truly was slowed, ending their run with a toss of his hackles and a touch of his nose to her own. good run, he conveyed in easy lines.

not far there was a stream. his wolf's-trot broke the drifts in front of ermine as he goaled them both toward the water source.

A shiver passed through Carrion as his sunflower gaze alighted upon her, a feeling that was reinvigorated when their noses touched. She shied from him as if ticklish, her voice a breathless giggle as she relished in his attention — his unspoken praise — and came wagging to stand beside him, partaking in the stream.

Her teenage crush deepened as she captured him with a sidelong eye — the assured way he moved and stood, the swipes of a long tongue into icy water — truly appreciating the largesse of his magnificent form for the first time.

Her tail wagged, wondering what he thought of her: thin and always smelling of roadkill...

wondering if the Snow Mother would be generous enough to share his affections...

She gulped down water and felt it hit her belly like a deer's kick. I must climb this Tall Hill! My head is full of birds! she cried suddenly, helplessly, stricken silly by the newness of this feeling.

her words were a bright cry. chin dripping, mountain boulder swung his ears forward in curiosity.

ermine seemed compelled by some unnamed emotion. he would not have thought for a moment that he was its source; the man cleaned water from the sides of his jaw and then sang a single note into the air, one that took the lowest tone of her own voice.

perhaps she wished to sing. the boughs curled; the water crackled its aria of ice, and he sang another, higher sound.

fade here? so i can start us a new one??

It occurred to Carrion that the nigh insurmountable Tall Hill, was a poor target for her budding affections. But who else was there, really? Who else besides her own brothers could she trust to be a loyal provider and father to her progeny? (And somehow, through no understanding of her own, she did not view Mulherin or Redsky as suitable partners.) This left only him, the rise's patriarch and unwitting harem-keeper.

The sound of his howl gave her delightful chills, and she crooned with him, their voices harmonizing above the frost-limned trees; her vocalization a series of eerily-pitched riffs and runs over the background of Tall Hill's slow, steady vibrato.